Thursday, May 6, 2010

Western Union 'Returns the Love' With Mother’s Day Consumer Campaign

The Western Union Company(NYSE: WU), a leader in the money transfer segment of global payments, announced today the launch of “Return the Love”- a national Mother’s Day Campaign designed to encourage consumers to give mom the perfect gift. Also, Western Union and Grammy-award winning recording artist Wyclef Jean, and “Queen of Latin Pop” Paulina Rubio, “Return the Love” with special performances and appearances at the Billboard Latin Music Conference & Awards and a concert honoring military moms. “Western Union’s ‘Return the Love’ campaign reminds us that mom showered us with countless acts of love throughout our lives, and Mother’s Day is the perfect time to return the sentiment by giving her a gift she really wants,” said Stewart A. Stockdale, President, The Americas and EVP, Global Key Accounts and Global Cards, Western Union. “Cash is a practical gift-giving idea, it’s a quick and easy alternative.”

When researching Mother’s Day gifting trends, a recent Western Union consumer survey1 found daughters and sons of all ages have good intentions when it comes to finding the perfect gift, but 42 percent find it hard to shop for the perfect gift for mom.

“Seventy three percent of consumers are planning to give a Mother’s Day gift this year and Western Union’s ‘Return the Love’ campaign is designed with both the gift giver, and the gift recipient, in mind,” continued Stockdale. “The gift of cash is easy and convenient to give, and it’s sure to be something that mom will never return or exchange.”

“Return the Love” is a multi-faceted, integrated consumer campaign designed to encourage consumers to send the gift of cash, this Mother’s Day. “Return the Love” campaign elements include:

Kick-off special performance dedicated to Moms featuring Wyclef Jean and Paulina Rubio at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, on April 29, produced and broadcast live by Telemundo.

Several Wyclef Jean and Paulina Rubio performances and consumer-facing events, including a special concert honoring military moms;

In the social media space, Western Union dedicates a tab on its Facebook page encouraging fans to share how they are honoring and celebrating their moms;

Additionally, Western Union has a Flickr®page (flickr.com/groups/love2010)where consumers can share photos of their moms. Each week, Western Union will select photos from this gallery to display on the company’s home page, www.westernunion.com.

The Western Union consumer survey also found 42 percentof moms have pretended to like a Mother’s Day gift; and separately, 30 percent thought the gift was either “thoughtful” but not a gift they wanted, or they did not receive a gift at all.

“Western Union believes every mother should receive the perfect gift,” said Wyclef Jean. “I have relied on Western Union to move money worldwide for years, and there’s no company I trust more with my money.”

Paulina Rubio added, “The Latin culture places a special emphasis on Mother’s Day and it’s an honor to be a part of Western Union’s ‘Return the Love’ campaign. If you are going to send mom the gift of cash, Western Union provides a great way.”

Western Union provides a variety of fast, reliable ways for consumers to send and receive money around the world, with more than 364,000 Western Union® Agent locations. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.

1 The survey, commissioned by Western Union and conducted by Wakefield Research,polled 1,000 people 18 years old and older between March 26 and March 28, 2010.

As part of this campaign, Western Union set-up a Flickr page (flickr.com/groups/love2010)where people can share photos of their moms. Each week, Western Union is selecting photos from this gallery to display on the company’s home page, www.westernunion.com.

Additionally, this past weekend Western Union hosted a concert at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, for military families which featured Wyclef Jean and Paulina Rubio.

Pretty cool huh?!

Well, Western Union sent me a $50 gift card and they want to send FIVE of you each one too! (These are Western Union GCs, but they can be used anywhere!)

To enter, tell me a gift that you've gotten on Mother's Day that you didn't like so much but pretended to, just so you didn't disappoint the gift-giver.

A guy I was dating gave me some chocolate dipped strawberries. I H*A*T*E strawberries. I did eat a couple of them to make him happy, but it took about 30 minutes and a few glasses of wine to get them down :)

My ex husband bought pots and pan for the kids to give me for Mothers Day. I had to act happy but all I was thinking ,is that all they think of is,me working in the kitchen !!LOLThanksmatternu@gmail.com

I'm always happy with anything my children give me, BUT I did get a Mother's Day gift from my son's father one year - it was a very fugly, old-lady-type winter jacket. (I live in Ohio, it's sometimes still REALLY cold in May!) It was just SO not my style, but I pretended to like it. I still have it 6 years later, because, well, it's REALLY REALLY warm!

I've never gotten anything on Mother's Day I didn't love, but my mother in law has gotten me several sequined penguin vests and sweaters that I plastered a look of excitement on my face for.lkziegler[at]gmail[dot]com

Well, this year actually, hubby surprised me by making some banana-nut bread. (I love to eat, but I dislike cooking.) It was sweet of him, but I was happier with the fact that he "babysat" and that he cleaned up the kitchen.

Just about every year, I get necklaces from my daughter. She's seven and thinks they are the prettiest things. I wear them with pride for a day or two, then tell her I don't want them wrecked, so I put them in my jewelry box to save. It's worked so far!

Honestly, I really can't think of anything. I've only been a mommy for 8 years so my son really hasn't been able to get me anything unless it's homemade. There has been a few times he has bought me something from the Dollar Store but those items were cute. My mom usually gets me something small but nice as well. So really there is nothing that I haven't liked. : )

I would have to say the scales my hubby bought me for mothers day when I was pregnant with my first child. I did need new scales but to buy it for me on mothers day and when I am pregnant..yeah..didn't go to wellbrewerchickey78@yahoo.com

One year my children who were 4 and 5 at the time made me pancakes. They were not cooked in the middle and had sour cream spread on top, they were thinking it was whipped topping LOL. Boy that was the hardest thing I ever had to eat in my life but seeing their adorable little faces standing their smiling from ear to ear I couldn't let them know how bad they were.tamben7996(at)aol(dot)com

I received a bottle of perfume once that gave me an extreme headache. It was so strong that I could not keep it in the house so I regifted and gave it to someone else. I appreciate the thought but it was just not worth getting a migrane over. The person doesnt know to this day.

My husband got a watch for the kids to give me one year, even though I hate watches and never wear them. I guess he figured I never wore one because I didn't have one. So I wore it for a few weeks, and now it is in a drawer somewhere.

I got a necklace and earring set for mother's day one year that must have been from the kids or juniors section - it was really bad, but I still wear it once in a while because my son loved picking it out for me!winnieayala at yahoo dot com